The number of employees working on IRS litigation is based on actual utilization of time spent on IRS files rather than on number of employees since most lawyers work on numerous files throughout the year.

8. Urges the Council and the Commission to condemn the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners; calls for a thorough, impartial, public and transparent investigation of allegations of torture and ill-treatment; calls for the appropriate measures to be taken against persons at every command level who are guilty of ordering and perpetrating such abuse, or who have contributed to a command climate that permitted it; insists on the right of every detainee to judicial review and to legal detention;

14. Urges the Council and the Commission to call for an immediate halting of the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners; calls for thorough, impartial, public and transparent investigation of allegations of torture and ill-treatment; asks for the appropriate sanctioning of persons at every command level who are guilty of ordering and perpetrating such abuse, or who contributed to a command climate that permitted it; insists on the right of every detainee to judicial review and to legal detention;

43. Finds particularly distressing the fact that sending files or complaints to OLAF has become the standard procedure to excuse the general "no-action-and-no-information" attitude; in this context, it is essential that clear channels of communication between OLAF and the institutions in which alleged wrongdoing takes place be established; the institutions concerned must take preventive action wherever necessary to protect the Community's financial interests unless a request has been made by OLAF or national judicial authorities for the European institutions to refrain from taking such action in order to avoid compromising ongoing inve ...[+++]stigations: is of the opinion that a review of the OLAF Regulation is therefore required; urges OLAF also to arrange for close consultation with those who provide OLAF with evidence of irregularities or fraud; considers that, after an acknowledgement of receipt, such 'whistle-blowers' must be informed at fixed intervals of the progress of the investigation, and that at all events whistle-blowers must not be left in the dark as to the use being made of their information; urges that extra staff with accountancy expertise also be recruited to OLAF, in such a way as to attain a good mix of chartered accountants, forensic accountants and EDP auditors;

42. Finds the fact that sending files or complaints to OLAF has become the standard procedure to excuse the general 'no-action-and-no-information' attitude particularly distressing; in this context it is essential that clear channels of communication between OLAF and the institutions in which alleged wrongdoing takes place be established; the institutions concerned must take preventive action wherever necessary to protect the Community’s financial interests unless a request has been made by OLAF or national judicial authorities for the European institutions to refrain from taking such action in order to avoid compromising ongoing inves ...[+++]tigations: is of the opinion that a review of the OLAF Regulation is therefore required; urges OLAF also to arrange for close consultation with those who provide OLAF with evidence of irregularities or fraud; considers that, after an acknowledgement of receipt, such 'whistle-blowers' must be informed at fixed intervals of the progress of the investigation, and that at all events whistle-blowers must not be left in the dark as to the use being made of their information; urges that extra staff with accountancy expertise also be recruited to OLAF, in such a way as to attain a good mix of chartered accountants, forensic accountants and EDP auditors;

Mr. Jack Ramsay (Crowfoot, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, anyone who is familiar with the file realizes the contents of the second letter, and it did not do one single solitary thing about appeasing the complainant in this whole matter (1455 ) The justice minister continues to absolve himself of any responsibility when clearly it was his irresponsible decision that cost the Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars.